Sunny Leone turns on Twitter users in Bengaluru, Ho Chi Minh City and faraway Latvia

Sunny Leone’s “rockstar” answers in a “sexist” interview has turned on not just Twitter users in India but in Vietnam, UAE and Latvia too! Within India, Sunny Leone topped Bengaluru’s Twitter charts as the #1 trend, Lucknow’s Tweeple spent 415 minutes tweeting about Sunny Leone after her interview telecast on CNN IBN’s Hot Seat.

After Bhupendra Chaubey flung “rude” questions to Leone at Mumbai’s Mehboob Studio, the ‘Sunny Leone’ search and chatter on Twitter rode to the top on Bengaluru’s Twitterati circuit. Notably, these trends are not about the actress’ name with the accompanying hashtag which typically helps online search.

Data from iTrended says Sunny Leone remained #1 on Twitter in Bengaluru for 5 minutes and trended for 540 minutes in total. At # 5 in Bengaluru, Twitter users spent 285 minutes on Sunny Leone.

The Sunny Leone interview on CNN IBN was part of the ongoing promotion of the Indian-origin Canadian actor’s upcoming adult comedy film, Mastizaade.

In Latvia, Sunny Leone rose up to # 9 on Twitter trends and spent 25 minutes there. The actress trended for 320 minutes in this country. Over a span of 371 minutes, Sunny Leone trended in Latvia for 320 minutes. In UAE, Sunny Leone reached #13 on Twitter where people spent 45 minutes tweeting in a total trend time of 155 minutes. The US went cold on Sunny Leone, coming off a long weekend which saw the first snow on the East Coast this winter.

In Vietnam, Sunny Leone did even better, spending 65 minutes as the country-wide average at the # 8 trend. Twitter users in Ho CHi Minh City, Vietnam spent 75 minutes devoted to Sunny Leone at the # 8.

Sunny Leone displays far more dignity than these self appointed moral custodians of society.

— vidya balan (@vidya_balan) January 19, 2016

Bollywood hails “rockstar” Leone

Bollywood has hailed Leone’s answers to Chaubey’s line of questioning which has been panned as “rude”, “sexist” and “misogynist.” Chaubey hit a low point with this one: “I wonder if I’m being morally corrupt by interviewing you.” Here are more:

“Are you proud of your past?”

“Do you think Aamir Khan will work with you?”

“In typical Bollywood terms, you’re an item girl”

“H__ow many people would aspire to be a porn star?”

These are some of the statements thrown to Sunny Leone in an interview with Bhupendra Chaubey.

In a bid to promote her upcoming film, Mastizaade, Leone must have thought she was attending a harmless, promotional interview. What she got instead, like Alia Bhatt mentions in tweet (scroll below) was “hyper opinionated statements with a question mark at the end.”

The 30-minute-long interview is replete with Chaubey cutting Leone off as soon as she started to make a point that deviated from her “image” or her “past”. It seemed as if all the questions were aimed to corner Leone, and yet she managed to keep her cool and answer his questions with dignity and a straight face.

Even topics of politics and being the most-Googled person in India were conducted by Chaubey with a sly smirk on his face, as if to indicate that the only thing one deserves to speak to Leone about is porn.

Leone was probably calmer than anyone in her place. Upon being asked what she felt about CPI leader Atul Anjan blaming her for corrupting Indian morality and youth of the country, her response was, “I’m waiting for the day when Obama makes a speech about me.”

One is unclear what the purpose of Chaubey’s interview was. Gaurav Kapur in his tweet nails it, by saying, “Bhupendra’s every word reeks of a dodgy agenda”. Maybe he thinks talk about porn sells?

Either that or like Vir Das mentions, he was exploring his own prejudice towards porn and morality.

Here’s how Bollywood and Twitterati reacted to the now viral video clip of the interview :

Very unfair& rude interview with Sunny Leone on CNN IBN.She is taking it on her chin sportingly,obviously in the interest of her coming film

— Rishi Kapoor (@chintskap) January 17, 2016

That was literally NOT an interview.. Just hyper opinionated statements with a question mark at the end!!! No Grace? Chivalry? Ridiculous!

— Alia Bhatt (@aliaa08) January 19, 2016

He asks the same question for 20minutes. Because she doesn't satisfy him with the response he's looking for.#Respect https://t.co/RkG4B0C5d2

— Dia Mirza (@deespeak) January 19, 2016

As a live broadcaster, you must be objective & rid yourself of all bias before an interview. Bhupendra's every word reeks of a dodgy agenda.

— Gaurav Kapur (@gauravkapur) January 19, 2016

Full marks to Sunny Leone for the grace she showed. Most would've walked out of that cringe fest of an interview.

— Gaurav Kapur (@gauravkapur) January 19, 2016

Here's hoping Mr Chaubey's next interview explores something other than his own prejudice.

— Vir Das (@thevirdas) January 19, 2016

Yes and such stupid questions!He is so googly eyed & patronising while @SunnyLeone holds her own so beautifully👍🏼 https://t.co/KKPlaUB8sw

— Mini Mathur (@minimathur) January 19, 2016